Lee Cattermole issues rallying cry as Sunderland gear up for play-offs | OneFootball

Sunderland’s attention has now turned to the play-offs, according to captain Lee Cattermole, who warned that they cannot feel sorry for themselves.

The Black Cats had been in a strong position to secure automatic promotion back to the Championship.

But they have won just one of their last five games, including a 1-1 draw with Portsmouth on Saturday, all but ruling them out of a top two finish.

Cattermole is now focusing elsewhere and believes Sunderland should be positive about their prospects.

“We felt we needed to beat Portsmouth to get to where we wanted, which is automatic promotion,” he told reporters.

“Obviously it is still not completely over but we need to start getting our heads around the play-offs because it looks like we’ll be there.

“We need to finish the season strongly and if we play like we did on Saturday, we’re going to win games.

“There should certainly be no feeling sorry for ourselves. That won’t get us anywhere.

“That includes everybody as a club. We’re in a good position and I think we’d have taken that.”

Sunderland now sit six points off the automatic promotion positions in the League Two table.